| CD REVIEW Nazareth |
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Band : Nazareth Boohh...best not start writing too long a history about this band (for a seriously detailed tale, check the bio at (www.) nazarethdirect.co.uk), because that goes back to forever. Well, actually the Scottish band was started in 1968, and released the first of its now 22 albums in 1971. In that time they had very little line-up changes, with guitarist Zal Cleminson joining the band for the time of two albums (between Sept. '78 and late 1982, the band enlisting an extra keyboardist in John Locke between July '80 and late '82, guitarist Billy Ranking joining as second guitarist after Cleminson left, and staying 'til late '83, and the same then replacing original guitarist Manny Charlton from late 1990 to late 1994, at which point guitarist Jimmy Murrison entered the fold. Also entering at the same time, was keyboardist Ronnie Leahy, but he left late 2002. Original drummer Darrell Sweet died of a heart attack in 1999 while on tour with the band in the USA. He was replaced by bassist Pete Agnew's son Lee. Pete and singer Can McCafferty are the only remaining original members today. Over the years, the band has had moderate success, although that has been declining since the late '80s. The band's top years were in the mid-seventies, and more specifically with the single of their cover of “Love Hurts”, which remains the band's only Top 10 hit in the USA. During the '90s only 3 albums were released, 1998's Boogaloothe last in that decade. The band returned after a decade's hiatus (as far album releases are concerned, because they continued to be present on the live circuit) with the 2008 album The Newz (also released through earMusic) and, you know, I could've sworn colleague Cosmicmasseur was given the job to review that. But when I check the website, I cannot find any trace of the album what-so-ever...weird, but what can you do!? The new album now [recorded in Prague with production duties shared between guitarist Jimmy Murrison and Swiss “sound wizard” (just repeating the words in the promo chatter) Yann Rouiller … with attention paid to keeping a certain rawness to the sound; in contrast to the music business' usual attempt to bring things as clean and “perfect” as possible], is being praised by the label as one which will surely join Nazareth's classic albums No Mean City (1979) and Hair Of The Dog (1975) as “one of the most representative episodes in the band's career”. Now I've been wondering what exactly the label reps mean by that. Are they actually comparing said albums, representative for some of the heaviest material by the band, to this new one? In that case my answer is, “Whom are you trying to fool here?”! Because as far as heaviness, Big Boyz kinda pales. I mean, although the guitar licks ain't thàt heavy (somewhat lacking in distortion), they all have a simple catchiness about 'em with a very high recognition factor. Mr. McCafferty still has a very unique voice, and the material on this album enables him to show himself from his raunchiest in such tracks as “Big Dog's Gonna Howl” and “No Mean Monster”, while at the other side he can also express himself in a most vulnerable way during the somewhat longer (6:24) “When Jesus Comes To Save The World Again” (and what a whopper of a song that is indeed, with that ending passage showing the singer reaching his highest notes) and the heartfelt (semi-acoustic, by the way) “Radio”. He also gets very nice vocal backings in several of the songs. Hum, you know something, in the case of this great lead vocalist, there's only graduations in the sensitivities he puts in his singing...in that some songs require him to be less voluminous (with more volume giving him a higher reach) than others! Nice to hear, by the way, that even oldies such as this occasionally find a way to spew their disgust at the way we're being treated by those who're supposed to look out for us (gee, what a big joke...how log ago would it have been since a country's – any country's – government was working in the best interest of the People, and not to fill their own pockets?). Check “Lifeboat”. Question: is that actually (Sir) Sean Connery lifting his glass during “The Toast”, or just an impersonator? Sounds like it in the intro of the song, but not at the end! And who's that singing along in somewhat of a duet with Dan? Funny Tex-Mex passage during “Watch Your Back”, by the way. Ballad of the album is the tasteful “Butterfly”, which also includes the playing of some piano.Wacky guitar licks and samples in album closer “Sleeptalker” too! So, at the end of a couple of listening sessions, if you were to ask me how I feel about this album as compared to the mentioned ones above, I'd have to agree that this is certainly a collection of songs capable of putting Nazareth back into the spotlights, where it belongs! Now I've searched the Internet for full-length songs off this new album for you to savour, but the only songs posted at (www.) myspace.com/nazarethdirect come off the band's previous album. I guess you'll have to look up the album's page at one of your trusted online sales sites to listen to 30-second samples in stead! 90/100 Tony. |